COMM 206 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Herd Mentality, Culture Industry, Chief Operating Officer
Document Summary
Cool hunters / tastemakers: (cid:862)cool(cid:863) (hip taste) is a collection of spontaneous observations that change dependent on the context, and which are mobile in all contexts, cool is a set of dialects, not a language. You (cid:272)a(cid:374)"t just poi(cid:374)t to something and deem it cool; the definition changes based on time, on context. Authentic cool is shaped in places that the market is initially deaf to. Cool is(cid:374)"t just a(cid:271)out i(cid:374)(cid:374)o(cid:448)ati(cid:448)e a(cid:374)d u(cid:374)i(cid:395)ue people. It"s a(cid:271)out analysis of mass demands & mass taste it"s a(cid:271)out aggregating taste. Participation in mass culture is limited to choice between buying & not buying. It"s a fo(cid:396)(cid:373) of subjection; makes a person passive: leads to political domination of people, promotes being part of the mass/group/herd aka passive/desensitized subject. Richard hoggart: mass culture = new and stronger form of subjection. American idol (cid:396)egula(cid:396) (cid:448)ie(cid:449)e(cid:396)s (cid:272)a(cid:374) a(cid:272)t as if the(cid:455)"(cid:396)e e(cid:454)pe(cid:396)ts a(cid:374)d judge performers: produces herd mentality, gross insensitivity, & decline in moral seriousness.
